Three roots americana songwriters share the Freight stage tonight.

Jim Bruno is a singer and songwriter from Chicago, now based in the Bay Area, who teaches songwriting at Foothill College as well as at the Freight. Shawn Colvin, Chuck Prophet, Mary Lou Lord, Thad Cockrell, and Laurie MacAllister have recorded songs that Jim has written or co-written. His recent album Alright Alright features clever lyrics and catchy tunes that often have a bittersweet, nostalgic feel – “We’d sing melodies made out of moonlight to the sound of old guitars.” The website acousticmusic.com says, “May he continue to write songs long into a brilliant future.”

San Francisco’s Maurice Tani has been a fixture on the local alt-country scene for more than a decade with his band 77 El Deora, and previously sang and played guitar for the seminal Motown-style party bands Zasu Pitts Memorial Orchestra and Big Bang Beat. “Making a living as a working musician,” he says, “I’ve played a lot of styles, but as a songwriter, I find country to be the most satisfying genre to work in. What I do is not pure in any real sense. I mix influences pretty freely, but I still think of what I do as being based, however remotely, in traditional country story telling and the various California country musical styles.” The San Francisco Chronicle praised his “twangy modern country sound” and called his songs “wry yet romantic, tender but aggressive.”

Cliff Eberhardt is one of the champions of contemporary folk music. He grew up in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, not far from the Main Point Coffee House where he could hear musicians like James Taylor and John Prine, Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne. He started playing professionally at age 15, and after stints in Illinois and Colorado, became a major figure in the New Folk scene in Greenwich Village in the 1980s. His latest album, All Wood and Doors, is a brilliant collaboration with James Lee Stanley playing acoustic versions of classics by the Doors, and he recently appeared at the Folger Shakespeare Theater in Washington, D.C., where he received rave reviews for his performance as The Blind Balladeer in a Wild West version of The Taming of the Shrew. He’s written scores of great songs, and he’s a terrifically engaging performer.

Each performer will play a short solo set and then all three will share the stage for the finale set.

Visit Jim Bruno's website

Visit Maurice Tani's website

Visit Cliff Eberhardt's website

Listen to tracks from Jim Bruno, Maurice Tani & Cliff Eberhardt: